


Treading on Blindness

by dasakuryo



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Headcanon, Politics, Pre-Canon, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 03:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11614743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasakuryo/pseuds/dasakuryo
Summary: Leia's desire to help the Rebellion gets the best of her. On the verge of putting the Alliance in danger, she learns a valuable lesson from an intelligence agent.





	Treading on Blindness

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this on forestpenguin and rinsantago, hope you all enjoy this story, as I catapult myself into another angsty RogueOne pre-canon trash pit.

"Where do you think you are going," the tone was warning, but a step away from turning into a frustrated growl, "your Highness?"

She'd just overheard them talking about an upcoming military operation on Phindar —she was not letting them get away. She huffed and sauntered down the corridor anyway, the stomps of her quickened pace muffled by the carpeted floor. She needed to know more, she needed to bring this information to the Alliance. Her father trusted her, Leia couldn't let him down.

She was barely a few meters away, the noise of their voices finally stringing together into words to her ears, instead of being merely sound. She lifted her chin, felt a smile tugging at her lips and pride swelled in her chest as she lowered the pace of her apparent stroll. She could taste the victory—

All of a sudden an alien force pulled her into a senatorial chamber.

She manages to keep the yelp of surprise inside her mouth at the sudden pressure around her arm, towing her into the darkness. When the door swooshed shut, she rolled her eyes as the tension clawed at every inch of her face, contorting the smoothness into an incredulous frown. This time, the grunt did roll off her lips.

"I was about to—"

"Ask for a kriffing trip to an Imperial cell, that's what you were doing," he snapped at her. The dim red light of the Coruscanti twilight that slipped in through the cracks of the blinds was enough for her to see his nostrils flaring and his jaw trembling with rage, "princess," it sounded like a hiss, when he added the title—

It felt like a punch. It knocked the air out of her lungs. For a moment she could do anything but stand there, agape, suddenly at a loss for words.

"They were talking about planning a blockade, an invasion!" she hushed, and even though she was whispering her throat hurt as if she had screamed. The fact that she has to crane her neck and search for his gaze to effectively retort and fight back wrapped anger on her fists, "I needed to know—"

"I don't care if they were handing the secret passcodes to enter the Citadel," he hushed back, the anger rippled through the rustle of his voice, "you might as well have been walking towards them screaming _for the Rebellion_ with a loaded blaster," there was a whipping sound when he tossed the leather gloves on the desk. Leia saw him resting his weight on his fists, a hard bump on the vertex of his set jaw, as if he was trying to keep his tongue in check. "If you're going to do this, you've to learn to be subtle."

Perhaps the light was tricking her, but she could have sworn she saw his shoulders tremble. And just like that, with that small gesture he tried his best to go unnoticed, it hit her. He was responsible for her security. Cassian Jeron Andor, was a key part of this mission and responsible for her security, because his father didn't trust anyone else with her _life_ on this mission. She suddenly realised there was a heavier weight bearing on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to—" Leia tried to explain herself. She stopped short from trying to articulate any further idea when she heard his snort.

"I know," he said, gaze fixed on the opposite wall and tension sinking deeper into his body, judging by the way he hunched over the table.

He rubbed his face with his hand, let out a long, tired sigh before turning to face her again. There was an edge of a caged ireful reprimand in the stern set of his jaw. Leia could only swallow the lump that had suddenly knotted her throat. Leia took a step forward, closer. Her fingers curled into her palm and she cleared her throat before saying, "I know the risks, agent Andor."

He turned to face her so suddenly that the cloth of his uniform swished.

"Do you, your Highness?"

For the first time ever since they'd met at the shooting range back at Yavin 4 that Leia Organa couldn't held his gaze. There was no trace of the patience when he'd made an off-hand comment on how she'd be placing the butt of the rifle on her shoulder to aim better. There was no flat monochord softness in his voice, like when he'd worm out of her she was doing this shooting training behind her father's back. The way he'd practically spit out the question is far from the respectful detachment he normally bear, there was no distance, but collision.

Her gaze shied away from fixing on him then.

He took a step closer, a brief glance and she saw him clasping his hands behind his back. "Why does an sixteen year old senator of Alderaan need to know about an upcoming operation on Phindar to stop a group of terrorists? Why does this young senator find the topic of secret military strategies so interesting to begin with when Alderaan has _never_ fully supported any of the measures to reinforce militarianism set forth by the Imperial Senate?" he arched his eyebrows, and though his tone was levelled, more collected, she knew the anger was echoing beneath the apparent calm surface.

She looked up. His jaw set, his eyes cold. Creases plague his forehead beneath the locks that had fallen, dishevelled, on his forehead.

"Do you know they will drag you into a cell to _torture_ you, princess?" his voice is barely above a rustle in the air and still it sent shivers down her spine, frigidity sinking in her bones. "Do you know what imperials do the loosen the tongue of those under suspicion of treason and threatening order and security? Do you _truly know_?"

"I— my father—" she stammered.

"Never let you look at those reports," he cut in, sharp, "they are classified. Only intelligence and Alliance generals have access to them."

"Agent Andor," she tried, when he straightened his posture Leia suddenly remembered— the paradox of it all. In experience, he was the superior. In theory, in rank, she was his superior. A title she'd, apparently, not earned fully yet— at least not with this. "I want to help. My father— he— I don't want to let him down," Leia hated the tone her voice took at that, hated how tiny and small it sounded... how vulnerable, naive and inexperienced it made her feel.

There was the rustle of a sigh.

"You won't help anyone if you put the Rebellion at risk. Why do you think we're in Senator's Chuchi chambers discussing this and not at the opposite end of this hall, princess?"

She'd been on the verge of putting the rebellion at risk of being discovered.

"Learn to look, your highness," he actually said then, not in a whisper any more, "look at your surroundings. Learn to see the bigger picture. Always."

His boots clicked on the tiles. Leia head tilted, the tension still clung to his shoulder, its grip not as tight. But it was there. Like the ever looming sense of danger pulsing in the air in every corner of this galaxy asphyxiating under the yoke of the Empire.

"Blindness already doomed this galaxy once, your Highness, sixteen years ago when the Empire rose from the dying ashes and corrupted stench of the Republic," he did not turned. His fingers resting on top of the switch, but not pressing it. "Don't let blindness doom us all to a reign of terror, senator."

The door slid open.

Leia Organa stayed behind.

She would join Joreth Sward later.

As of now, her mind had a lot to dwell on.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a snippet on the whole idea of "what if Leia and Cassian met? What if they exchanged ideas or had debates? What if they even went on missions together", loosely influenced by and tiptoeing around rinsantago's idea of Leia having a teenage crush on Cassian (Leia 'I happen to like nice men' Organa, awestruck by Cassian 'everything I did, I did for the Rebellion' Andor... I can see it, one-sided from Leia's, of course).


End file.
